Moisture absorption percentage and evaluation of quality changes in extruded snacks during storage for different thickness of foil

Abstract

Snack foods today offer a variety of benefits, including being nutritious, delicious, and even functional. When it comes to keeping snacks convenient and fresh, a snack food packaging must really provide. This paper deals with experimental studies on moisture absorption rate of plastic films that are currently being used as primary and secondary packaging materials for snacks food products at different environmental conditions. The analysis was done on four plastic films include PET, MPET, PE bases. The water vapor transmission rates were determined at accelerated conditions of 90% relative humidity and at 38°C temperature as per the ASTM F1249 standard. The rate of moisture absorption increases linearly with time until a certain point, after which it becomes constant. The water vapor transmission rates were found for four different sample (Sample A, Sample B, Sample C, Sample D) 0.4941, 0.4138, 0.3496, 0.4949 respectively. The moisture content was found ranging from 1.57% to 2.58%. Sample B and Sample C which contain extrusion PE showed good result which was 1.58 % and 1.57% respectively. The polyethylene film with extrusion coating had better moisture barrier properties with good mechanical structural integrity and is the most economical. The multi-layered film of 73 μ showed good results with lower MVTR as well as overall acceptability